HS2 Curzon Street piling completes: geotechnical and construction notes for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Completion of piling for HS2’s Curzon Street station in Birmingham sees Keltbray, for the Mace Dragados JV, install 2,011 CFA-bored reinforced concrete piles to depths of 6–24 metres along the 400‑metre site between Moor Street and Millennium Point. Works also include an eight‑metre‑high retaining wall, excavation of 47,000 m³ of material, and sub‑surface construction requiring 19,000 tonnes of rebar and 69,000 m³ of concrete, of which 7,000 tonnes and 29,000 m³ are already in place. Attention now shifts to remaining foundations, the Digbeth West Midlands Metro extension under New Canal Street, and sliding the 40‑metre‑high Curzon 2 viaduct across the Cross City line this summer.
Technical Brief
- Continuous flight auger rigs were used for all piles, minimising vibration adjacent to live rail assets.
- Seven-platform station geometry under an arched roof drives high axial and lateral load demand into the piled raft.
- An eight‑metre‑high retaining wall at the western end manages the grade difference to existing city fabric.
- Excavation of 47,000 m³ created a level formation, implying substantial temporary works and groundwater management.
- Piling sequence included a programmed pause to allow Network Rail viaduct maintenance, constraining access and logistics.
- Sub‑surface works require more than 19,000 tonnes of reinforcement, with 7,000 tonnes already fixed below ground.
- A total of 69,000 m³ of concrete is specified for below‑ground structures, with 29,000 m³ already placed.
- Curzon 2 viaduct, at 40 m high and slid over the Cross City line, demands precise incremental launch engineering.
- Balfour Beatty Vinci’s viaduct works and Mace Dragados’s station box interface will require tight movement and settlement control at the junction.
Our Take
Curzon Street’s deep foundations and the 40m-high Curzon 2 viaduct sit alongside other complex HS2 structures in Birmingham, such as the Saltley Viaduct replacement flagged in the 18‑month A47 closure piece, signalling a prolonged period of heavy structural works and traffic disruption across the city.
Across our 724 Infrastructure stories, HS2 appears frequently as a driver of specialist rail and structural engineering demand, with Curzon Street adding another major urban node that will need careful interface management with Network Rail and West Midlands Metro assets once superstructure works ramp up.
The completion of piling at Curzon Street comes as HS2 lets further track systems and station packages, such as the Ayesa–Egis support to the Ferrovial Bam JV on Lots 1–3, suggesting that design and construction risks are progressively shifting from ground engineering towards track, systems integration and long-term asset performance.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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